Whenever the Sikh community is made fun of by a non-Sikh person on social media, one thing is often said that Sikhs have reached 12 o’clock. Many Sikhs and learned scholars have aptly replied to this joke that in the times when Sikhs got 12 o’clock. That was the time when the Turks or Mughals used to take away your women. And in the middle of the night, the Sikhs used to attack the kidnappers and drop your women home safely. This question-wise answer fully meets the criteria of the question.
Now let’s look at the history of this subject, when Nader Shah, the king of Khurasan, became the king around 1736 and in 1738. And, he attacked India for the first time. As his attack on India took place in such a scenario. His aim was not to attack India, but he had to attack due to the natural situation. Something like this happened when he attacked the rebel Pathana of Dwala around Kabul. And, at that time the Subedar of Kabul was under the rule of Delhi. And he sent a message to the areas where I am eliminating the rebels: if my rebels take shelter in your Kabul area, do not give them shelter. But, on the contrary, they gave them shelter.
Two or three times he also sent his messengers to the Delhi court. But, then the king Shah Muhammad gave no satisfactory reply. Enraged by this, Nader Shah attacked India. He reached Lahore and had a brief battle with Zakaria Khan but Zakaria Khan soon accepted his submission and Nader Shah advanced towards Delhi. When he moved towards Delhi he was accompanied by his son Nasir Khan, one of his most important generals Ahmad Khan who later became Ahmad Shah Abdali and a younger wife (both his wives were real sisters). A huge looting was done in Delhi, which is referred to as the Nadarshahi Massacre, when Nader Shah conquered Delhi.
After that he started going back camels, horses, artisan, precious diamond, Kohinoor diamond, there was another diamond that was also very precious. Apart from this, he was going back by taking many girls as slaves. And, when he reached Panjab, the great warriors of Punjab, among them, Sardar Kapur Singh (of course the Nawabi had gone by then), Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Sardar Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, Sardar Charat Singh, Sardar Hari Singh, all the Singhs started attacking him. The policy of this attack of the Singhs, which is called “Kaman Gosh Niti”, this policy has been mentioned by ‘Shah Muhammad’ in his ‘Jangnameh’ while mentioning ‘Sham Singh Attari’ in the war of ‘Sabhrawa’. At that time, the Singhs attacked Abdali’s military units. And, he was taking the girls as captives and slaves for the service of the royal nobles. The Singhs attacked him and freed those girls from captivity
Nadir Khan did not only keep non-Muslim girls captive, but he married his son Nasir Khan to Muhammad Shah’s daughter. In other words, he married his son to the daughter of the king of India. It is also mentioned in some historical sources that he himself wanted to marry the daughter of a Delhi general Muzaffar Khan. But, his younger wife forbade him from doing this. When he is going back, the Sikhs are living in the forest at that time. This is because Zakaria Khan orders the public massacre of the Sikhs. So, they are living their lives very hard while living in the forests. But, despite this, they attack him in many places and take away his ammunition and release the imprisoned girls.
From the invasions of Nader Shah to the invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali, this process continued continuously whenever a foreign invader carried away the girls of India as prisoners. Then, the Sikh generals used to block his way. They would free those girls from prison and deliver them safely to their homes. People later associated the name Bandi Chhor with the name of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia.
Now talking about 12 o’clock, according to the modern times, there is no trace of these clocks till the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh or we can say that those clocks did not exist at that time. How are these events related to 12 o’clock? Actually, Punjabi uses these words. In olden times, when someone had the good days, it was usually said that person had ‘ਪੌ ਬਾਰਾਂ ਨੇ’. These words, ‘ਪੌ ਬਾਰਾਂ, ਪੱਕੇ ਬਾਰਾਂ, ਬਾਰਾਂ ਵੱਜਣੇ’, these words are the sign of the victory.
When the Sikh generals freed the girls from prison, people often said this in the community that the ‘Singha diyan 12 pai gaiya’ means 12 o’clock belongs to Singhs. In ancient times, people used a game called Chaupar to understand the meaning of falling 12. The entire dialogue of the Mahabharata took place through this game. This game consists of 4 parts of 24 squares each for a total of 96 squares. Long ago, people used cowries to play it, and they also considered them a form of currency. Then people started playing it with dice. They used these words when the marks of 6–6 appeared on the dice, i.e., a total of 12.
Words like ‘12 bajne’ and ‘pau 12’ determined the first win. During the war between the British and the Sikhs, General Gough defeated the Sikhs. He stated that he kept them at 12 o’clock. However, the book mentions only a decree stating that the British victory was almost certain at noon, and it does not mention the words ‘12 o’clock.